this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
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Work Reform

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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

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[–] VampirePenguin@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

The minimum wage should be tied to GDP.

[–] Atropos@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Or! Universal basic income.

Minimum wage should be money used to enjoy life, since the rest would be covered by a socialist safety net.

A man can dream...

[–] Kintarian@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

If I pay you a living wage, how do you expect me to buy my own, private Lolita island?

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

I'm all for the residents of apartment buildings to own the space where they live, collectively.

[–] Hatshepsut@lemmy.world 79 points 1 week ago (9 children)

*from a single job.

Every full time job should pay a living wage.

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Unless 'full-time' is 30 hours a week or less, even a part-time job should be enough to earn a living.

In some countries it actually is, but mentioning that would be communist propaganda.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It really should be 20 hours or less.

Speaking as one of the 1980s latchkey kids, we don't allow our adults the time or energy to parent. Nor do we allow anyone the energy to be civically engaged.

Since the 1970s there's been an onslaught to capture government so it only serves business interests, which allows big business to flourish even when they are run incompetently, or in bad faith.

We are seeing the owner class cannot function even in their own best interests, rather they manage industry entirely on vibes and feels. And the feels usually are I deserve everything and workers are trying to steal from me.

[–] arrow74@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

I've heard rumors that back in the 90s is was considered normal to work a 20hr part time job and split a 2 bedroom apartment with a friend that also worked 20hrs or so. With a bit left to spare even.

Not sure how true it is

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[–] red_tomato@lemmy.world 57 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Everyone should be able to afford their necessities even if they’re unable to work

[–] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 24 points 1 week ago (3 children)

There's more than enough wealth in this world to do it too. We just let greedy parasites hoard it for no good reason.

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[–] Steve@communick.news 37 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Basic healthcare should be covered without any wage.

While disconnecting health care from a wage, may as well disconnect the others also with a UBI. People shouldn't be living on the street, no matter their circumstances.

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Incorrect.

They should also be able to afford basic creature comforts.

[–] Broadfern@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

People love to ignore that part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs :’)

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

"Just be a workslave bro! Just don't do literally anything fun; don't watch TV, don't watch movies, don't play games, don't go out with friends. Just go to work and go home and that's it, and you'll be set for life!"

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Rent nothing, minimum wage should enable home ownership.

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That depends a lot on the housing market of the specific country. Here in Vienna, renting is the normal thing to do. we have lots of Apartments which are property of the city, renting them out to make sure living space stays affordable as much as possible, and that is a valid way of doing things too. I am currently living in one of these, and i never had a living space that cheap while also in good condition before (my last apartment on the open market was 1.5x the price, while being not a lot bigger and being utterly outdated regarding heating, electricals and isolation, with walls so thin that you could hear the neighbor sneeze)

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Yeah, I'm fine with publicly owned apartments as well, so long as they are held to high living standards and priced to drive down the cost of housing.

[–] mobyduck648@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

One of the smaller but still really bad problems with renting (at least in the UK) is that you can't redecorate and all the landlords have the shittest taste in decor. So much crap white paint on every surface.

Swear when I have my own place there won't be a single white wall. It will be maximalist as fuck, and very colourful to make up for all the years of hideous 'landlord specials'.

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 3 points 6 days ago

I have the possibility to color my walls in whatever way i want, but these apartments come with the condition that when you give them back, the have to be in the same condition as before - so if you wanna paint your walls black, by all means, go ahead, but you have to make them white again when you move out.

The only things that came with my living space were a shower cabin, a toilet and a sink - i even got a financial bonus because there was no kitchen which is normally included, but in my case this also meant i could decide what i want (didn't exactly splurge on the kitchen, but got a great deal on a nearly unused kitchen with oven and dishwasher incl dismantling/transport/montage for around 1200€, which is an absolute steal)

There are some regulations regarding permanent modifications - you have to get the ok of the city (for nearly everything you might want to commonly do they have a standard form to fill out), because the houses themselves are often old - socialised living spaces have a 100-year tradition in Vienna, and they were and still are often designed by pretty popular architects, which means the facade is often under protection. After this summer tho, they softened the regulations regarding AC split devices, making it a lot easier to get the ok to add it to your apartment. (since the end of this summer there have already been over 400 ACs installed under the new rules, which is a pretty fast pace)

[–] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

I came to say the same thing. It's a good message but we could improve it by not having too low of a bar. Fuck landlords, everyone should own their housing.

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[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Honestly what’s the point of minimum wage if you can’t survive? Why even bother to have a minimum wage at all?

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago

May as well just do crime 🤷‍♂️

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They should also be able to afford a little bit of fun too.

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Everyone can have enough in this world - with all the technology and advancement we have been able to do together. The only thing stopping that is the parasitic hoarder class who lets the half the world suffer to exalt themselves.

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The USA, the richest country in the world by far, has been surpassed by Poland (about the same population as California alone)

https://www.dudkowiak.com/employment-law-in-poland/employee-benefits-in-poland

TLDR They have universal healthcare, family leave, vacation, and retirement that the vast majority of US workers can only dream of. No state in the union has this many benefits to my knowledge (but we do have 50, I apologize). Their minimum wage is almost as much, and they pay fewer taxes than many Americans (again, some states may be an exception).

An Eastern Block nation has managed to surpass the USA with far less money, in just a few decades.

Our politicians are not that stupid. They could pass legislation tomorrow with a simple majority vote (no need for super majority, let's not be silly) and change our laws whenever they would like to. They choose not to, it's a calculated choice.

[–] heartSagan5@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They could pass legislation tomorrow with a simple majority vote (no need for super majority

But that would eat into shareholder profits, and we can't have that, especially with insider trading politicians.

Honestly, this needs to be fixed. Mamdani has proven that the politicians have been trash, and it needs to go.

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Where I live, if you don't have a car or access to one you are worse off than if you're living in your car. Most of the homeless in my area have cars they live in.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

First time I experienced this was in the US. I went to San Diego on a student summer visa and you were fucked without a car. Large metropolis. It took me a while to actually cop it.

Luckily for us we made friends with some lovely rednecks from Alabama and they drove us around a good bit but that gift from them really impacted our whole summer.

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[–] Zizzy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I see a lot of people rightly disagreeing with this meme for not just having this stuff baseline regardless of work, forcing rent instead of ownership and no comforts. But i dont see anyone attacking the "basic" healthcare. It should be ALL healthcare. Fuck off with this basic bullshit.

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[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 11 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I think minimum wage isn't sufficient. Inflation will keep striking, employers will continue wage theft and abuse, billionaires will keep engineering laws that benefit them at the expense of all others.

Replacing the entire economic system outright is the true minimum. At best, minimum wage alone is just a tiny bandaid covering a spurting stump. To save society, abandoning capitalist tradition is key.

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[–] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

In 1978, DJing at a small town daytimer, I made 70 cents above minimum if you don't count all the mandatory unpaid OT. I kept an apartment, ate OK, had a cat, paid my utilities, and was able to take my new girlfriend out on weekends. NO ONE could do that now. Also, my parents had given me a year of cable as a gift.

And the problem is not with the individual. The problem is that capitalism is working exactly the way it's designed to.

[–] CobraCommander@quokk.au 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Why do liberals so often want people to suffer?

How about meeting people’s needs not giving them the bare minimum levels of things if they perform “minimum wage”/lowest price point capitalists can get away with giving jobs?

Why can’t you just argue for great healthcare for everyone? Why can’t people just be entitled to a house, food, needs met, etc?

This radical centrism is why things never improve.

[–] fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com 5 points 1 week ago

Yeah its the liberals that got us into this. Very observant.

[–] heartSagan5@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'd love a maximum wage, amirite? LOL

Although, we should get rid of the social security cap on high earners. It'd solve a lot of this insolvency talks, promptly.

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[–] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 week ago

It's in the name. Minimum wage to live!

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

critically important because those are the only jobs that AI can't take easily

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[–] ITGuyLevi@programming.dev 7 points 1 week ago

Almost as though that wage should pay at least the minimum to accomplish that.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ah the 50s. Wish I was an adult back then to experience that

[–] chocrates@piefed.world 6 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Apparently it really only existed for a subset of white men and wasn't this glorious era of affordability that we make it sound like

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[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 5 points 1 week ago

Absolutely. If you're in the US, and you believe this, make sure you get out and vote in November. Trump wants to make this problem worse.

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